Bolton Wanderers travel to Elland Road to face Marcelo Bielsa’s Leeds United on Saturday, one week after being hammered 4-0 by Norwich City.
Phil Parkinson has warned his Bolton Wanderers side that they cannot afford a repeat of their Norwich City horror-show as they prepare to face Leeds United on Saturday, as reported by the Bolton News.
Relegation threatened Wanderers were thumped 4-0 at home by an inspired Norwich side last weekend, Teemu Pukki scoring twice as Daniel Farke’s free-flowing side cut through the hosts with ease in front of their own supporters.
There will be no respite for Bolton, however, given that they are set to come up against another title-chasing side next time out. Leeds have dropped to third place but can go top again on Saturday while they have a game in hand too.
And Parkinson knows that Bolton cannot afford to repeat the mistakes that saw them comfortably swept aside by Norwich.
“We have to go to Elland Road and believe we can get a result,” he said. “Of course, we have to look at what we can do better from the Norwich game, after which we know there is a better run coming up.
“It will have to be perfect. You can’t sell yourself against players of that quality, you can’t switch off for a second and get done on a run because you will get punished. That is what happened against Norwich.”
Leeds themselves are under huge pressure to get a result given that they have won just three of their last nine games, raising fears of another post-Christmas collapse from a side coached by the irrepressible Marcelo Bielsa.
Failing to secure promotion would be almost impossible to swallow for Leeds fans who have got carried away with expectation and excitement in recent months.
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